Hack saw

ABSTRACT

A hack saw having a blade holding assembly and a blade lock assembly. The blade lock assembly having moveable blade lock means adapted to receive a blade therebetween, mechanism for moving the blade lock means to a position to hold a blade in place.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates to a hack saw and more particularly toclose quarter hack saw which has a replaceable blade.

Close quarter hack saws have been known for a number of years. Theyconsist of a frame or handle with a hack saw blade mounted on andextending from the front of the handle. However, some of such closequarter hacksaws may not easily be used or manipulated for effectiveclose quarter work. In other of such close quarter hacksaws the blademay not be easily adjusted relative to the handle and/or may not beeasily replaced. Some of such close quarter hack saws are expensive andcomplicated to manufacture and/or which are difficult to use.

OBJECTS

The present invention overcomes these difficulties and has for one ofits objects the provision of an improved close quarter hack saw whichmay be easily used for close quarter work.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of an improvedclose quarter hack saw in which the blade may be easily removed.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of an improvedclose quarter hack saw in which the blade may be easily adjustedrelative to the handle.

Another object of the present invention is an improved hack saw which issimple to use.

Another object of the present invention is an improved hack saw which issimple and inexpensive to manufacture and assemble.

Other and further objects of the invention will be obvious upon anunderstanding of the illustrative embodiment about to described, or willbe indicated in the appended claims and various advantages not referredto herein will occur to one skilled in the art upon employment of theinvention in practice.

DRAWINGS

A preferred embodiment of the invention has been chosen for purposes ofillustration and description and is shown in the accompanying drawingsforming a part of the specification, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the close quarter hack saw of thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the close quarter hack saw ofthe present invention.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along lines 3-3 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary side view, partly in section, showing the mannerof locking the blade in place.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line 6-6 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary side view, partly in section, showing the bladebeing released from its locked position.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along line 8-8 of FIG. 7.

DESCRIPTION

Referring to the drawings, the close quarter hacksaw 1 of the presentinvention comprises a handle 2 and a frame assembly 3.

The handle 2 has upper, lower and rear walls 4, 5 and 6, respectively,with opposed side walls 8 and an open front 7 adapted to receive atleast a portion of the frame assembly 3.

The frame assembly 3 has a rear blade-receiving assembly 10, a frontblade-holding assembly 11 and an intermediate blade lock assembly 12which are preferably made integral (one piece) with each other. Theblade-receiving assembly 10 comprises upper, lower and rear walls 15, 16and 17, respectively, and is insertable in the open front 7 of thehandle 2 and held in place by means of any well known fastening means(not shown) extending through openings 9 and 9A in the handle 2 and theblade-receiving assembly 10, respectively. A plurality of staggered(offset) partitions 18 and 19 extend between the upper and lower walls15-16 of the blade holding assembly 10 on each side of its longitudinalcenter line to provide a passageway 20 for a blade B.

The front blade-holding assembly 11 comprises and is in the form of au-shaped blade holder having a front leg 25 and a rear leg 26 connectedtogether by an upper base 27. The front leg 25 has a u-shaped lowernotch 28 to receive the front part of a blade B therein. The rear leg 26is connected to the intermediate blade lock assembly 12. The blade B isslidably mounted within the rear blade-receiving assembly 10 within thepassageway 20 formed between the spaced offset partitions 18-19 and isinserted in the notch 28 in the front leg 25.

The blade lock assembly 12 comprises a control compartment 30 formed byfront, rear top and bottom walls 37, 38, 39 and 40, respectively. Thefront wall 39 has a slot 36 therein to receive blade B and the top wallhas a threaded opening 42 therein. A blade lock assembly L is providedand comprises a pair of moveable blade lock elements preferably in theform of a pair of opposed cams 31 which are pivotally mounted on pivots32 located in elongated journals 33 on the front and rear walls 37 and38 of the compartment 30. Each cam 31 has an upper control finger 34 anda lower lock base 35 from which the pivots 32 extend. The upper controlfingers 34 and lower lock bases 35 are on opposite sides of the pivots32 so that movement of the upper fingers 34 in one direction will movethe lower lock bases 35 in the opposed direction and vice versa. Theblade B is interposed between the lower lock bases 35. The upper controlfingers 34 swing on pivots 32 from a position away from each other to aposition toward each other and the lower lock bases 35 swing in theopposite direction. As the cams 31 swing as described above, the pivots32 slide up and down the journals 33.

A controller 50 (in the preferred form of a thumb screw) is threadablymounted by its threaded shaft 51 in the threaded opening 42 at the topof the control compartment 30. The lower end 52 of the threaded shaft 51extends within the control compartment 30 and is interposed between theupper control fingers 34 of the cams 31 (FIGS. 5-8). When the controller50 is screwed down and lowered, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, its lower end52 will spread the upper control fingers 34 of the cams 31 apart aroundpivots 32 thereby allowing the lower lock bases 35 to move toward eachother to press and bear against the blade B from both sides to grip andlock the blade B in place. When it is desired to release the blade B,the controller 50 is screwed in the opposite direction to move itupwardly, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8. Its lower end 52 moves upwardlyaway from upper control fingers 34 of the cams 31 so that they are nowfree to move toward each other around the pivots 32 and the lower lockbases 35 are free to move away from each other and the blade B torelease their grip on the blade B permit the blade B to be adjusted orremoved and replaced.

It will thus be seen that the present invention provides an improvedclose quarter hack saw which may be easily used for close quarter workin which the blade may be easily removed, in which the blade may beeasily adjusted relative to the handle, which is simple to use and whichis inexpensive to manufacture and assemble.

As many and varied modifications of the subject matter of this inventionwill become apparent to those skilled in the art from the detaileddescription given hereinabove, it will be understood that the presentinvention is limited only as provided in the claims appended hereto.

1. A hack saw comprising a blade holding assembly and a blade lockassembly, said blade lock assembly comprising moveable blade lock meansadapted to receive a blade therebetween, said blade lock meanscomprising a pair of spaced separately and independently moveable bladeholding elements adapted to receive a blade therebetween, means formoving of said moveable blade holding elements toward each other from aposition holding a blade in place to a position releasing a blade formovement.
 2. A hack saw as set forth in claim 1, wherein, at least aportion of one of said blade holding elements being movable toward eachother.
 3. A hack saw as set forth in claim 2, wherein each of said bladeholding elements comprise a pair of cams pivotally mounted on pivots onsaid blade lock assembly.
 4. A hack saw as set forth in claim 3, whereineach of said cams comprise a control finger and lock base with said lockbases adapted to receive a blade therebetween.
 5. A hack saw as setforth in claim 4, wherein the control fingers and lock bases of saidcams are on opposite sides of said pivots whereby pivoting the controlfingers in one direction will pivot the lock bases in the oppositedirection.
 6. A hack saw as set forth in claim 5, wherein control meansare provided and interposed between the control fingers of said cams tocause them to pivot around the pivots in one direction away from eachother to thereby pivot the lock bases in opposite direction toward eachother.
 7. A hack saw as set forth in claim 6, wherein said blade lockassembly comprises a compartment into which said control means extends.8. A hack saw as set forth in claim 7, wherein said control means areinterposed between said lock fingers.
 9. A hack saw as set forth inclaim 8, wherein said control means comprise a threaded memberthreadably mounted on said compartment.
 10. A hack saw as set forth inclaim 9, wherein said blade holding assembly comprises a u-shaped bladeholder one leg of which has means to hold a blade.
 11. A hack saw as setforth in claim 10 wherein a blade-receiving assembly extends from saidblade lock assembly.
 12. A hack saw as set forth in claim 11 whereinsaid blade-receiving assembly extend rearwardly away from the blade lockassembly in a direction opposite to the blade holding assembly.
 13. Ahack saw as set forth in claim 12, wherein said blade receiving assemblycomprises a plurality of offset spaced partitions adapted to receive ablade therebetween.
 14. A hack saw as set forth in claim 13, whereinsaid blade receiving assembly is adapted to be mounted within a handle.15. A hack saw comprising a blade holding assembly, a blade lockassembly, and a blade receiving assembly, said blade lock comprisingblade holding means adapted to hold a blade.
 16. A hack saw as set forthin claim 15 wherein said blade receiving assembly comprises a pluralityof offset spaced partitions adapted to receive a blade therebetween. 17.A hack saw as set forth in claim 16, wherein said blade receivingassembly is adapted to be mounted within a handle.
 18. A hack saw as setforth in claim 17 wherein said blade holding assembly comprises au-shaped blade holder having means to receive a blade.